OLIVE GROWING: POLYPHENOLIC PATTERN IN DIFFERENT CULTIVARS OF OLEA EUROPAEA L.

In this study four registered cultivars, harvested during two different growing seasons, were analyzed. Moreover two virgin olive oils, obtained from single cultivar were also considered. High Performance Liquid Chromatography with Diode Array Detector (HPLC-DAD) methods were applied for the quali-quantitative analysis. Liquid solid and liquid liquid extractions (LSE and LLE) were developed. LSE supply a rapid and reproducible fractioning method for the olives, able to obtain a quantitative recovery of all the compounds. LLE resulted the best procedure for the oil samples. A comparison between the different cultivars and virgin oils from a single cultivar shows significant differences among the group of flavonols and oleuropein derivatives. The findings seem to indicate that flavonoid composition could represent a useful contribution both for a biochemical characterization of olive fruit and a correlation of the oil sensorial characteristics to the polyphenolic pattern.